


Now You Don't

by merc_cook



Category: Now You See Me (Movies)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-01
Updated: 2016-07-01
Packaged: 2018-07-19 06:48:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,563
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7350298
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/merc_cook/pseuds/merc_cook
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>An alternate ending to the 2013 film ‘Now You See Me’ featuring a different solution as to whodunit.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Now You Don't

**Author's Note:**

> This alternate ending picks up near the end of the film in the police station and fits remarkably well with the rest of the film with only possibly one slight change needed in that tone or intention of Tressler’s meeting with Bradley would be to persuade him through bribery to leave the Horsemen (and Henley) alone with Bradley not realising he knows what he’s up to and declining anyway as doesn’t think he can be found out.  
> Also, when the Horsemen arrive at the park, Henley would need to be missing.

“But why,” Rhodes said, “Go through such an elaborate and dangerous plan just to frame one guy?”  
“I don't know.” Bradley replied, “But I just gave you information that is substantially more important.”  
“No. Not really.” Rhodes said, turning away.  
“What?” Rhodes turned back to him.  
“All you’ve done,” he said, “is prove to me that you’re the one behind it. You seem to know everything about how it’s done – down to the tiniest detail. And who would know better than the man responsible for the whole thing?” Bradley shook his head.  
“A sucker is born every minute.” Rhodes was incensed.  
“So what’s your theory?” he asked, rounding on Bradley, “The Eye did it? You know, the legend is that the ‘Eye’ is everywhere. Waiting for the truly great magicians to distinguish themselves from the mediocre ones. Maybe that was you. Deep down inside you wanted nothing more than to be part of the ‘Eye,’ but you were never invited. So you try to destroy them. But instead what happens? You pissed them off. So they went through all this elaborate set-up just to frame you.” Bradley leaned towards him conspiratorially.  
“The Eye” he said, “isn't real.”  
“Ok,” he said, trying to keep his temper, “So tell me - Who else could be behind all this besides you?”  
“Somebody with an obsession. Meticulous.”  
“Who?”  
“Somebody prepared to sacrifice everything. Somebody so prepared to lose that they wouldn't even be a suspect until the trick was done.”  
“I don't want a profile.” Rhodes said, sharply, “I need a name. Who? WHO?!?”  
“I don't know who.” Bradley snapped back, “But someone. They were Always a step ahead of me. And the FBI. Got past them not once, not twice, but consistently. Almost as if they were on the in...the inside.” He finished thoughtfully. Rhodes snorted and walked away, clearly unconvinced. Bradley turned to watch him go but made no attempt to stop him – he didn’t blame him – he wouldn’t have believed his story himself. In a way, Rhodes had got his man, he only wished he knew how.

Bradley was sat on the bed wondering just how he’d ended up like this when he heard a voice.  
“Good evening, Mr. Bradley.” He looked up to see Tressler standing beside the cell looking down at him with a superior expression on his face.  
“What do you want now?” Bradley asked, standing up to face him, “Come to gloat?”  
“Something like that.” Tressler replied as he stood smirking at him.  
“I don’t see what you’re so happy about.” Bradley said, “You lost all your money.”  
“Actually,” Tressler replied, “The only money stolen was that from the Elkhorn safe – and that, thankfully, has been recovered.” Bradley looked confused.  
“Allow me to introduce my glamorous assistant.” Tressler turned to one side and a figure stepped forward. A very familiar figure.  
“Henley?”  
“Hallo, Mr Bradley.” Bradley looked from one to the other.  
“You?” he said, slowly, “And him?” Henley met his gaze coolly. Bradley looked back at Tressler.  
“I can't tell you how long I've wanted to see that look on your face.” Tressler said, smugly. Bradley was intrigued.  
“Who are you?” he asked, “What do you want from me?”  
“What do I want?” Tressler repeated, moving closer, “I want you to spend the rest of your life in this cell, staring at these four walls and wondering how you missed it. How you let yourself be so blinded by your ego that you convinced yourself that you were one step ahead when you were actually two steps behind.” Bradley paused.  
“Why me?” he asked.  
“Well, I couldn’t very well let you get away with your plan to tarnish the noble order of The Eye for your own gain. Let alone attempt to bring about my own downfall. Again.” Bradley’s brow furrowed.  
“What do you mean?” Tressler paused.  
“Don’t you recognise me, Bradley?” he asked. Bradley looked closely at him. There was something vaguely familiar about him. “Plastic surgery's a wonderful thing.” Bradley looked slowly from Tressler to Henley and suddenly a flash of recognition appeared in his face.  
“Shrike!” he said. Shrike nodded.  
“Henley here is my granddaughter. How else do you think she managed to secure my investment for a bunch of super-egoed magicians? You think highly successful businessman go around handing out thousand pound sponsorships at the drop of a hat? I have to say she was very convincing - the way you spun it to her, it seemed such a good idea. A potentially highly successful tour combining the talents of 4 gifted magicians – one of them (unbeknownst to you) my own granddaughter. How could it fail? And with the added bonus of doing some good in the world - redistributing some of the ill-gotten wealth of the few to the needs of the many. They weren’t to know you planned to keep it all for yourself”  
“But...” Bradley spluttered, struggling to take any of this in, “But... You’re dead!”  
“Dead?” Shrike repeated, amused. “Oh no. Far from it.” Bradley waited for him to explain.  
“Your little show broke me.” Shrike began, “There was no way I could come back from that. So I did the only thing I could do – I faked my death in a grand comeback show. The door of the safe was never properly locked - and obviously the restraints were deliberately flawed. Once I’d reached the bottom of the river and the pressure inside had normalised I simply opened the door and swum away to a new life. Set myself up in business under a new identity and did very well for myself – thank you very much. Until some greedy little oik like you comes along and decides to relieve me of my hard-earned cash.”  
“No – you cheated those people. Denied their claims.”  
“My company did. Certainly.” Shrike said, “But after the newspaper report brought it to my attention I got involved personally and I made sure that everyone got exactly what were entitled to. And I made the newspaper print a retraction.”  
“I never saw it.”  
“No, well, who reads the small print on page 7?” There was a pause. “I see why you targeted Elkhorn.” Shrike continued, “Their embezzlement was notorious. They deserved to go down. But it was hardly up to you to see that justice was done, was it? And attempting to keep the money for yourself.” Shrike tutted disapprovingly.  
“But how...?” Bradley stammered. Shrike smiled, coldly.  
“When Henley realised you'd set me in your sights as your next big payday, she decided to warn me - she couldn’t very well fleece her dear old granddad. So we decided to turn the tables. It wasn’t hard to work out who was behind it all – who else would know exactly how it was being done and not give a damn about the possible repercussions for The Eye. The details that the boys 'wheedled' out of me gave them access to a bank account that I'd emptied into another account the day before, leaving only a cheque deposit which I had no intention of honouring. So all those people in that audience are going to be very disappointed. But that just feeds into the greed image you've created – quite accurately, I must say. The police will think you stole my money and kept it for yourself and there's no way the police will let you out until you reveal the hideaway for this stash of money – which you can't do because there never was one. Using the Eye to get them to do your bidding,” Shrike went on, “That was a nice touch. One of the most sacred tenets being that you don't question your orders. Ergo they would do what they were told without question – all the time believing they were earning their passage into an ancient and secret society when they were actually walking right into your trap. A trap which, thanks to Henley's loyalty and my own superior wits you yourself have fallen straight into.”  
“But how did you...?  
“Your car?” Bradley nodded.  
“Henley, as you are no doubt aware, in addition to her other magical abilities, is quite the little cat burglar.” Shrike explained. “She followed you to see where you’d hidden your ill-gotten gains and, once you’d left, broke in and stole it all back. Stashing it in the car so that it burst open when you unlocked it was an added flair of Henley’s own design and – I must say – worthy of Shrike himself.” Henley beamed up at him. Bradley looked defeated.  
"And now,” Shrike added, “If you don’t mind, I think I’ll leave you to enjoy your new surroundings. Goodbye, Thaddeus.”  
“Goodbye, Mr. Bradley.” Henley said, “Thanks for everything.”  
“No!” Bradley called, “Wait!” But they were gone.

Back on the other side of town, the 3 men headed tentatively further into the park.  
“What if all this was just leading up to us getting mugged in Central Park at 2:00 a.m.?” Merritt said  
“Maybe Henley’s got the right idea.” Jack said. “Missing out on this bit.”  
“No, I'm telling you, we're right where we need to be.” Daniel said, “We just have to find...”  
“That?” They turned to see where Jack was pointing and found themselves looking at an old oak tree with a bench around its trunk.  
“The Lionel Shrike tree.” Their eyes travelled up.  
“And the card encased in glass.” Nestled into what had presumably been the hollow was a playing card embedded in a plate of glass; the face smiling out at them.  
“What do we do now?”  
“Hello boys.” The boys turned as Henley emerged from the darkness.  
“Henley?” Daniel said. Another figure appeared beside her.  
“Oh, my God.” Merritt said.  
“Mr. Tressler!” Daniel said, alarmed  
“Ssh.” Henley said, moving forward to place a calming hand on his chest, “It's ok.”  
“But it's Tressler! After what we did to him...”  
“Please - Mr. Tressler's so impersonal. Call me Lionel.”  
“Lionel – as in Shrike?”  
“In the flesh. And incidentally – you didn't do anything to me.”  
“What do you mean?”  
“I'm afraid you've all been the victims of a rather nasty confidence trick.” Shrike explained. “You were Bradley's retirement fund. He asked you to meet here so he could hand you over to the Police – who he would then inform of your every move under the guise of revealing how the trick was done – which he, of course, would know as he was the one that set it up.”  
“Bradley did?” Merritt said.  
“Ssh.” Henley said, placing a finger to his lips. “Just listen.”  
Carefully and clearly, Shrike explained to them just how Bradley had set up the Four Horsemen scenario, using them to accumulate inordinate amounts of money from the various sources he had targeted all the while intending ultimately to let the Horsemen take the fall for the robberies.  
“...And after traces of the stolen money was found in each of your accounts... Oh, don't worry – it won't be. I've seen to that.”  
The 3 of them looked at each other.  
Jack chuckled softly.  
“I did not see that coming.” Merritt said, “It's impossible!”  
“No way.” Jack added.  
“That was actually,” Daniel said, “pretty good.” Shrike smiled.  
“Thank you.”  
“So... we’re safe?” Jack asked. Shrike nodded. “And Bradley’s in jail.”  
“He most certainly is.”  
“And Bradley's not part of The Eye?”  
“That worthless little runt?” Shrike chuckled. “Of course not. He has no appreciation or respect for the true craft with which we are affiliated.”  
“So that's it then,” Wilder said “Back on the streets hustling dollar bills.” Henley patted him affectionately.  
“My dear boys,” Shrike said, reaching inside his jacket and pulling out a seemingly ordinary playing card. “Bradley may not have been a member... but I am. And I think you've more than proven your talent.” He moved over to the tree with the large crack in its trunk and inserted the card. There was a clank and a whirring sound and the branches of the tree began to spin round; the leaves of the tree shining like tiny, bright lights. The four of them drew their attention back down to the trunk and saw a small door had materialised in front of them.  
“Hey, listen,” Merritt began, not taking his eyes off the door, “For the record, I have always been a 100% believer.” He turned to Shrike. “And the amount of energy I have expended to keep these infidels on point...” Henley laughed as Shrike stepped forward to place a silencing hand on Merritt’s shoulder.  
“Merritt,” he said, “You're in.”  
“God bless.”  
“Come.” He ushered them towards the tree.  
Slowly, Daniel moved forward. In the space on the door normally occupied by a handle there was a small slot. Daniel reached for the tarot card he had received earlier – he now realised – from Bradley but instead pulled out an innocuous-looking playing card. He glanced across at Shrike who shrugged and then at Henley who grinned displaying the four tarot cards she had just palmed from them. He momentarily remembered Henley placing a hand to his chest and realised she must have switched the cards while Shrike was talking. He turned back to the tree,  
“The real magic,” Shrike said as Daniel reached out towards the door, “is taking four strong solo acts and making them all work together. And that's exactly what you did. So welcome.” Daniel slotted his card into the gap and watched as the door opened “Welcome to the Eye.” Daniel stepped inside. One by one they all disappeared inside the tree trunk until at last only Shrike and Henley remained. Slowly, she reached up to kiss him affectionately on the cheek.  
“Well done, grandfather.” she said.  
“Well done, my dear.” Shrike replied. And they stepped inside; the door closing softly behind them.

Alma looked up from the bench she was sitting on to see Rhodes standing over her, smiling uncertainly.  
“Bonjour.” he said.  
“Bonjour.” She replied. He sat down beside her.  
There was a pause as both struggled to think of what to say to the other. Alma turned to gaze out at the river.  
“So are you sure you got the right man?” she asked, turning back to look at him.  
“He tried to turn me against you.” Rhodes replied, “He was filming us the whole time. Always one step ahead of us and yet never letting us in.”  
“So he could make it part of his show?”  
“Or so he could profit from the scheme that he created.”  
“Seems odd that he’d leave the clues behind.”  
“Ego.” Rhodes said, decidedly, “Fatal flaw.”  
“And why we would he tell you how it was done?”  
“Because it was all part of his plan,” Rhodes replied, “To make me think he was on my side when all the time he was making me look a fool.” Alma paused to consider this.  
“Has he told you yet what he did with the money?” Dylan sighed.  
“That secret,” he said, “it seems he’s choosing to keep to himself.”  
“So what will you do?” Rhodes paused.  
“Maybe,” he said, slowly, “I should enjoy the magic of it all.” She turned to him and saw him smiling at her. She smiled back and reached up to kiss him on the lips.  
“Good decision.” She got up and held out her hand towards him. He took it and together they walked away across the bridge and into the city.


End file.
